Choosing the right diet – get it wrong and it could cost you thousands

Choosing between the top diet programs and the best slimming clubs is harder than ever. Type "diet" into Google and you will be presented with a list of about 572,000,000 web sites. Attempt to narrow down the choice with a search on "top diets" and you're left with about 60,000,000. How about “choose between the top diets and best slimming clubs”? Still more than 5,000,000 sites to try. It's fair to say that it's harder than ever to identify the top diet programs and the best slimming clubs. And if you do manage to identify a suitable short-list, how can you possibly choose between them? There is no such thing as the perfect diet program. Okay, let's get one thing straight. There is no such thing as the perfect diet program. It simply does not exist. If a perfect diet did exist, by now everyone would have discovered it, and the other diets would have fallen by the wayside. What do exist, on the other hand, are diet programs that work. Diet programs that help people to lose weight. Diet programs that not only help people to lose weight but, more importantly, allow you to avoid putting that weight back on again once you have finished actively dieting. However, what works for one person may well not work well for you. You will agree, I hope, that we are all individuals? In our personal lives, we all enjoy different things. I, for one, enjoy running marathons. I enjoy pushing through the barriers of pain and seeing what my body can do. When my mind tells me that I should stop, I enjoy showing it who's boss. Most of my friends, however, think I'm mad. "If you're going to do some exercise, why don't you do something enjoyable like tennis, swimming or football?" they ask. If they decided to try to keep fit through running marathons, I'll bet that most of them would end up hating running. Some of them would hate running so much that they might even end up associating keeping fit with pain and discomfort. They might end up resenting the whole idea of keeping fit. They could even end up hurting their long-term fitness simply by trying an exercise regime that wasn't right for them. It's exactly the same with dieting. There is, however, a perfect diet program for you. Some people really benefit from the support of an active weight-loss community (such as provided by a slimming club), whilst to others the idea of a "group" weigh-in is enough to send a shiver down their spine. Some people have certain favourite foods that they simply couldn't do without, whilst others are happy to eliminate any foods as long as doing so is beneficial to their weight loss. It is important that in choosing which diet to follow, you consider which features of a diet are more likely to suit you. I suggest that before choosing a diet, you spend 5 minutes thinking about the following questions:

• Are you good at self-motivation? Would you benefit from weekly meetings with other people going through the same thing?


• Would you prefer to be told exactly what to do on your diet, or would you be comfortable having certain freedoms, choices and flexibilities?


• Do you enjoy cooking for yourself? Would you rather have ready-prepared meals delivered to your door?


• Are you willing to sacrifice your favourite foods?


• Do you have the time / inclination to count all the calories (or "points") in everything that you eat?


• Could you stick to a diet composed primarily of "meal replacements" (like shakes) or would you need to eat "real" foods?

Knowing the answers to these straightforward questions makes it more likely that you will choose a diet that will work for you.


How making the wrong choice can cost you thousands.

A survey from 2007 concluded that the average woman spends 31 years of her life dieting. To be frank, I have trouble believing this - I am sure that I know a handful of people who are on perma-diets, but really - 31 years as an average?

So let's take half that time instead. Let's assume that the average person spends 15 years on a diet.

A survey of the top 10 diet programs and best slimming clubs showed that the difference in cost between the cheapest and most expensive diets is around £200 per month - that adds up to a staggering £36,000 over a 15 year period!

Given that, I think that 5 minutes spent pondering these questions will probably be the most valuable 5 minutes you're likely to spend.